The Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation has chosen MIT graduate student Janelle Heslop as a Switzer Fellow. Heslop is one of 20 students to receive the fellowship for 2018. Heslop is currently pursuing both an MBA and a master's in civil and environmental engineering through the Leaders for Global Operations program.
The Switzer Foundation Fellowship is awarded to talented graduate students from New England and California who are pursuing career paths that will result in positive change for the environment and who have displayed leadership in their field.
“The Switzer Foundation is known to be a vibrant community for environmental leaders, and I am honored to have an association like Switzer say ‘this person is a leader in our field’,” Heslop says.
Prior to MIT, Heslop worked for seven years at the intersection of business and sustainability. As a consultant at GreenOrder, she advised companies on their environmental innovation strategies; she later oversaw operations and performance improvement for water utilities at Veolia, a global environmental services company.
“My goal is to apply my environmental passion and expertise to the corporate world, thinking about how we can bring sustainability as a lever for innovation to companies, and create products that reduce environmental impact; to do good business while decreasing environmental impact,” she says.
The Switzer Fellowship Network is comprised of over 600 fellows who are actively working to create a sustainable future in the areas of natural and social sciences, law, business, and policy. The network of fellows work together to provide expertise, support, and encouragement to each other.
Although Heslop has experience working in business through the environmental perspective, she is still exploring the future direction of her career and is hoping to gain more insight through her fellowship.
“The Switzer Foundation has been wonderful,” she says. “They have already identified six or seven potential mentors for me who have been in the field for a while. They are very proactive about helping you make connections, allowing you to think about what’s next in your career.”
